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Healthy Pancake Recipe

The other night, I finished re-reading one of my favorite books - Me and My Dad: A Baseball Memoir, by Paul O'Neill. The book ends with a pancake recipe from the O'Neill family, one that really got my salivary glands going for a short stack of freshly made pancakes with real maple syrup.

So the morning after finishing the book, I headed into the kitchen and whipped up the healthiest pancakes I could manage, and served them alongside a mountain of fresh fruit. The four of us - me, my wife, and our two boys - were grinning like crazy while we enjoyed this special treat. I think I may have even emitted a few moans of pleasure while we ate - I'm told that I do this, but I'm truly unaware of it if I do.

Anyway, foods made with flour aren't a great choice for promoting your best health, but if you're ever in the mood for a stack of fresh pancakes, I hope that you give the following recipe a try. Grinning like crazy and moaning with pleasure are allowed while you eat these yummy pancakes.

1. Heat a little olive oil in a large pan over medium heat - use enough oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan.

2. Combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and give a quick stir.

3. Add wet ingredients and whisk until batter is smooth - the oats will create a slightly bumpy appearance; the idea is to make sure that the powdery ingredients are well combined with the wet ingredients.

4. For even-sized pancakes that stack nicely, use a small ladle to transfer batter to pan, and fill the ladle to about the same level every time.

5. When the pan is sufficiently warm (the light coat of olive oil will look a little shimmery if you're using a stainless steel pan), transfer enough batter to the pan to create the size that you desire. If you can make more than one pancake at a time, go for it.

6. When bubbles begin to appear, give the pancakes a flip and cook for another minute or two. If they're darker than you'd like, lower the heat a bit for the next round.

Serving these healthy pancakes with a mountain of fresh fruit is definitely the way to go. We had blueberries, freshly sliced bananas, and crisp Fuji apple slices with ours.

I hope that you enjoy this healthy pancake recipe as much as we do. If you have a favorite healthy pancake recipe, please consider sharing via the comments section below. Thank you.

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Comments

After reading Dr. Catherine Kousmine on the value of freshly-ground flour and seeds, I use a coffee grinder to add a few tablespoons of fresh grains and a teaspoon of flax seeds or nuts to most of my preparations. Even if I don't grind all the flour, I know there are some living elements in the mix ! And why not use coconut oil here ?

Thank you for providing us with the best health information on the internet! I have come to trust your opinion almost implicitly!

As for the pancakes....
Try replacing half of your non-dairy milk with coconut milk.
Use baking soda instead of baking powder to avoid aluminum.
A little splash of real vanilla extract is very nice.
Cinnamon also adds another dimension and will help with the blood sugar balance.
Walnuts, pecans, chocolate nibs, and grated coconut also make nice toppings.
Enjoy!

Great book and recipe... a quick tip for fluffy light pancakes (since oats can weigh them down a bit) ... is to seperate the eggs...adding the yolks in with "milk"...and then whipping lightly the whites WITH half the honey or other sweetner. ...Put all the dry ingredients into a bowl, stir in the wet...then FOLD in the whipped whites.... then cook as usual.

Just a quick note to your pancake posting. I have started to use my coffee bean grinder to make my own flour from seven grain cereal or even 12 grain cereals I buy from my local health food store.
I store it as cereal, but when I plan to make pancakes, I fill the top { fits about 1/2 cup}, grind away and now I have my own fresh flour full of variety and goodness. Often the mix includes flax seeds, spelt flakes, oatmeal, sunflower seeds and other good stuff.

It has worked just fine for most simple bread/pancake recipes that I make.

1 organic, free-range egg, beaten
small splash vanilla
1 tablespoon honey
Mix these ingredients together and add to the dry ingredients with enough almond (or other milk) to make the desired consistency, not too runny.

Add 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, raspberries, or half of each
(thawed, with juice) to the mixture.

Make the same as you would other pancakes in a large pan with just a touch of olive oil.

Serve hot with maple syrup. Makes 6-8 pancakes.
(a variation of this recipe has been in my family for years)

Wholewheat Sourdough Pancakes
Combine together:
2 c buttermilk (or 1tsp vinegar to milk to sour it)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
2 cups sourdough starter (if you do not have this ingredient you can leave it out although it does decrease the number of pancakes you receive!)
Mix dry ingredients together before adding to above:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 Tbs baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup ground seeds/nuts/wheat germ (optional & can add all three but will need to add a little more liquid)
Mix only till just moistened. Cook by 1/4 cups about 3 minutes one side & one minute second side. I keep the pancakes warm in the oven on the slatted braising pan at about 170 F till there are enough to call the family to a meal.
This makes about 30 pancakes, enough for about 6-8 adult size appetites. When there are leftovers my children love to take the leftovers to school and heat them in the microwave for lunch. Adding ground flax seeds is one way to sneak in some flax into the diet for those who aren't sure that they'll like them enough to eat them otherwise. Additional note: the sourdough starter stays in my fridge and I use it and feed it about once a week - either in the above pancakes, sourdough biscuits or I often add a cup of sourdough to any standard muffin or cake recipe I am baking. (Note to Ben Kim: you might want to comment on the health value of adding sourdough to one's diet - I think there are B vitamins and I'm not sure what else)

We frequently have a second person whip up some fruit sauce while the pancakes are cooking:
Fruit Sauce:
Defrost about 2 cups worth of any kind of fruit from the freezer (or canned)
Run defrosted fruit through sieve and place liquid in microwaveable bowl or pot for stovetop
Add 1 Tbs cornstarch to 1 cup of liquid to thicken (if not enough liquid use some fruit juice or water)
Microwave the liquid for 2 min intervals till thickened (or bring gently to a boil on stovetop stirring till thickened and clear) then add the fruit back in and enjoy. As I need to watch my sugar intake we usually add 1/8 tsp powdered stevia to the fruit if it needs to be sweetened or you can use 1 Tbs honey or turbinado or demerara sugar to suit your taste. There is rarely any sauce left! This sauce goes really well with a few spoons of flavoured live culture yogurt.

The contents of this website are the opinions of Dr. Ben Kim unless otherwise noted. The information on this website is not intended as personalized medical advice and is not intended to replace the relationship that you have with your primary care provider. Any decisions you make with regard to your daily choices and medical treatments should be made with the help of a qualified health care provider.